1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle tire, and more particularly, to a vehicle tire with an RFID tag that is mounted on the vehicle tire so that the RFID tag works properly even when an external force is applied to the vehicle tire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, wireless communication equipment, such as smart cards or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, is being used in many industrial fields for various applications including distribution fields for identifying information about products.
A wireless communication system generally includes a RFID tag (i.e., a transponder) that is attached to a product, and a reader that communicates with the RFID tag. The RFID tag includes an antenna and an RFID chip. Thus, information from the reader is received through the antenna and stored in an RFID chip, and the information stored in the RFID chip is transmitted to the reader through the antenna.
Vehicle tires are one kind of product to which this type of wireless communication technique can be applied. If the operation parameters, such as the pressure and temperature, are not properly controlled during a manufacturing process or while driving, there are high risks of breaking the vehicle tire. Therefore, there is a need to monitor the operation parameters of the vehicle tire.
FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a conventional RFID tag, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the RFID tag of FIG. 1. For convenience of explanation, the RFID tag of FIG. 1 is depicted without a protection layer and a release layer. The RFID tag includes a thin film 11, an antenna 10 formed on the thin film 11, and an RFID chip 50 bonded to the antenna 10. The thin film 11 can be formed of a polymer such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or Polyethylene (PE). The antenna 10 can be formed by stacking copper thin layers or aluminum thin layers on a thin film 11 and etching the stacked layers. As depicted in FIG. 2, the RFID chip 50 can be flip-chip bonded on an end of the antenna 10. More specifically, the RFID chip 50 and the antenna 10 can be electrically connected by interposing an anisotropic conductive adhesive 20 therebetween. The protection layer 15 for protecting the RFID tag is disposed on an upper part of the antenna 10, and the release layer 13 for attaching the RFID tag to a product is disposed on a lower part of the antenna 10. Each of the protection layer 15 and the release layer 13 is respectively bonded by adhesives 12 and 14. The RFID tag is attached to a product after removing the release layer 13.
However, when a conventional RFID tag is mounted in a vehicle tire with high pressure, there is a drawback in that a reader can not communicate with the RFID tag since the frequency of the RFID tag varies due to deformations or damages of the antenna 10 or the RFID chip 50. Therefore, an additional means for protecting the RFID tag and a design specification for determining a mounting location where the RFID tag can be protected in consideration of the internal stress distribution in a vehicle tire are required.